SAFELY ON THE STREET, SMITHBACK DUCKED THROUGH THE SEVENTY-seventh Street gate into Central Park and settled on a bench by the lake. The brilliant fall morning was already warming into a lovely Indian summer day. He breathed in the air and thought once again of what a dazzling reporter he was. Bryce Harriman couldn’t have gotten his hands on these papers if he had a year to do it and all the makeup people of Industrial Light and Magic behind him. With a sense of delicious anticipation, he removed the three sheets from his pocket. The faint scent of dust reached his nose as sunlight hit the top page.
It was an old brown carbon, faint and difficult to read. At the top of the first sheet was printed: Application for Access to the Collections: The New York Museum of Natural History
Applicant: Prof. Enoch Leng, M. D., Ph. D. (Oxon.), O. B. E., F. R. S. &tc.
Recommender: Professor Tinbury McFadden, Department of Mammalogy
Seconder: Professor Augustus Spragg, Department of Ornithology
The applicant will please describe to the committee, in brief, the purposes of his application:
The applicant, Dr. Enoch Leng, wishes access to the collections of anthropology and mammalogy to conduct research on taxonomy and classification, and to prepare comparative essays in physical anthropology, human osteology, and phrenology.
The applicant will please state his academic qualifications, giving degrees and honors, with appropriate dates:
The applicant, Prof. Enoch Leng, graduated Artium Baccalaurei, with First Honors, from Oriel College, Oxford; Doctor of Natural Philosophy, New College, Oxford, with First Honors; Elected Fellow of the Royal Society 1865; Elected to White’s, 1868; Awarded Order of the Garter, 1869.
The applicant will please state his permanent domicile and his current lodgings in New York, if different:
Prof. Enoch Leng
891 Riverside Drive, New York
New York
Research laboratory at
Shottum’s Cabinet of Natural Productions and Curiosities
Catherine Street, New York
New York
The applicant will please attach a list of publications, and will supply offprints of at least two for the review of the Committee.
Smithback looked through the papers, but realized he had missed this crucial piece.
The disposition of the Committee is presented below:
Professor is hereby given permission to the free and open use of the Collections and Library of the New York Museum of Natural History, this 27th Day of March, 1870.
Authorized Signatory: Tinbury McFadden
Signed: E. Leng.
Smithback swore under his breath. He felt abruptly deflated. This was thin—thin indeed. It was too bad that Leng hadn’t gotten his degree in America—that would have been much easier to follow up. But maybe he could pry the information out of Oxford over the telephone—although it was possible the academic honors were false. The list of publications would have been much easier to check, and far most interesting, but there was no way he could go back and get it now. It had been such a good idea, and he’d pulled it off so well. Damn.
Smithback searched through the papers again. No photograph, no curriculum vitae, no biography giving place and date of birth. The only thing here at all was an address.
Damn. Damn.
But then, a new thought came to him. He recalled the address was what Nora had been trying to find. Here, at least, was a peace offering.
Smithback did a quick calculation: 891 Riverside lay uptown, in Harlem somewhere. There were a lot of old mansions still standing along that stretch of Riverside Drive: those that remained were mostly abandoned or broken up into apartments. Chances were, of course, that Leng’s house had been torn down a long time ago. But there was a chance it might still stand. That might make a good picture, even if it was an old wreck. Especially if it was an old wreck. Come to think of it, there might even be bodies buried about the premises, or walled up in the basement. Perhaps Leng’s own body might be there, moldering in a corner. That would please O’Shaughnessy, help Nora. And what a great capstone for his own article—the investigative journalist finding the corpse of America’s first serial killer. Of course, it was very unlikely, but even so…
Smithback checked his watch. Almost one o’clock.
Oh, God. Such a brilliant bit of detective work and all he’d really got was the damn address. Well, it was a matter of an hour or two to simply go check and see if the house was still standing.